More Garmin records and a new schedule

This past week was my first with Wednesday as my furlough day. I rearranged my running schedule to do my long run on that day, with the hopes that the trails would be less crowded. It was chilly and it even snowed a bit, which kept the crowds away, and I was able to avoid getting too close to anyone.

I was NOT happy to be snowed on, but seeing a low snow cloud over the river was cool.

So far, the week has been easy run Monday, long run Wednesday, easy run Friday, and speed run Saturday. I would say my first attempt went pretty well. The easy runs felt easy, I was able to keep a decent pace on my long run, and my speed run was great.

I thought about a time trial 5K but decided that was too sadistic and landed on descending miles instead. I split the first two at 9:25 and 9:11 and then thought, "OK, time to get to work." I knocked out miles at 8:47, 8:35, 8:16, and 7:50, each getting progressively harder and more difficult to keep down my brunch. I hit the end of the block with the end of the last fast mile, also at the same time my song ended, so I took that as a sign. I wrapped up with a cooldown mile of 9:19 and headed home feeling pretty pleased with myself.

And there was this:

Aw yeah!

I'm under no illusions that I'm a "fast" runner but I was pretty proud of myself for setting two new records since I got my Garmin 2.5 or so years ago. The previous 54:40 10K was from last week, so to take another 42 seconds off is pretty darn cool. And my previous fast mile was about a year and a half ago, so I was pretty happy to take 6 seconds off there.

I may not have any races to train for, but I still enjoy pushing myself — within reason, of course. Even the tiniest improvements are what keep me motivated and getting out the door these days.

Happy and safe, and speedy, running to all of you.